Sunnydale: Rise of the Coven
by KyliaQuilor
Summary: Life is a video game, and now Amy Madison gets to play - starting over from the beginning. But this time, she's the main character. (Crackfic, Amy x Willow Pairing)
1. New Playable Character

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel the Series.

 **Author's Note:** This is a cracky-fic. I don't intend to take it too seriously, and I hope you won't either. I mean, due to my own hangups as a fic writer, I won't write it as cracky as it could be, maybe even should be, but it will be cracky. So please, read it with that in mind.

 **Author's Note 2:** I've seen several fics recently that operate under the premise that the events of Buffy the Vampire Slayer were a video game, and now Xander is a playable character and starting a new game. They usually mix things up so 'Welcome to the Hellmouth' isn't the same. The premise is a little silly, to say the least, but some of the stories can be good, and even fun reads. The best one that comes to mind is "The Sunnydale Chronicles" by Knife Hand, but there are some others floating around out there of varying quality.

But anyway, they're all Xander-centric. And that's fine. But as someone who is obsessed with Amy Madison, I can't help but wonder 'What if Amy' in any common Buffyerse fandom trope, and so... here I am.

Thanks to Maria, on tumblr, for beta-reading

Sunnydale: Rise of the Coven

By Alkeni

Chapter 1: New Playable Character

"What? Where am I?" Amy shook her head violently and looked around her hurriedly, but despite a sense of disorientation, she didn't feel at all afraid. Which she really should, since she'd been plucked away from where she'd been, at the edge of Sunnydale, watching the whole town collapse into a crater to... here.

 _Of course, I can't exactly tell where 'here' is._ She was surrounded by black. Not darkness. She could see fine... there just wasn't anything to see. An endless expanse of blackness and... that was it.

 _And why am I not freaking out?_ _I shouldn't be calm. But I am. Why am I calm?_ Amy didn't take surprises well, and surprises that involved... whatever had just happened were pretty intense surprises that should be setting off every paranoid, defensive bone in her body.

And yet...

"Congratulations Amy Madison! Due to the unexpected popularity of your character, you have been added as a playable option!" A male-sounding voice rang out all around her, sounding like the announcer on a game show.

"What the _fuck?_ " Playable character? What the-

"Oh, right," The voice said less exuberantly. "I keep forgetting I need to explain this part first." The voice paused for a moment, and then she heard the sound of a throat clearing. "Okay, so you're going to just believe all this because I don't feel like dealing with the usual freak out that happens when people realize that everything they know is a video game. I've had a long day and I'd like to get home at a reasonable hour."

"Wait, you're an announcer voice and you have a home?" Somehow, Amy couldn't question the claim the voice had just made - that everything she'd known was a video game. That just... made sense? Somehow?

"What, you think I live here? This is just my job. I have a twenty minute commute. Anyway, back on topic: Everything you know is a video game. Specifically a video game called 'Sunnydale', wherein the characters play themselves. It's complicated and technical and I really don't know all the details, but everything you remember in your life is either built in backstory or events of the game as played by another character."

"But," the voice went on, before Amy could think about what she was hearing, "because your character has been surprisingly popular - for the amount of screentime you had - among the fans, we released a new DLC where you get to be a playable character, and here you are. Speaking of, you get to pick your campaign."

Suddenly Amy found herself staring at a list of 'names' each one with a descriptor, all floating in front of her. Somehow, she knew that each one was a 'campaign', a basic set of assumptions underlying the universe of the game she was about to enter. The narrative operating principles and all that.

 _Basically, I get to pick what kind of story I'm gonna live in. fun._

"As a new character, you don't get to pick your genre. You have to play something set in base Sunnydale, but you still have a range of options."

 _I'll say so._ Amy looked at the options in front of her. Her eyes lighted on one.

 **Standard Campaign**

 _The Slayer arrives in Sunnydale, while at the same time a powerful master vampire threatens to rise. Can Sunnydale be saved? And what threat comes next on the horizon after that?_

 _Slayer Options: Buffy Summers, Faith Lehane, Kendra Young_

 _Customization Package Available: Slayer Amy Madison; Slayer Willow Rosenberg_

"Wait, I could be a Slayer?" That would be an interesting possibility. She could have all kinds of super-strength and speed.

"If you wanted. You're the main character this time around, after all. But you can't be a Slayer and a witch at the same time. Game balance issues."

"Well then fuck that." Amy had no interest in giving up magic. She looked at the next one.

 **Rise of the Coven**

 _Magic takes front and center, with witches as the main heroes and main villains. Form a coven in Sunnydale and combat other, invading covens. Hoard magical secrets and grow your power!_

 _Potential Coven Members: Amy Madison, Willow Rosenberg, Tara Maclay, Jonathan Levinson_

 _Customization Package Available: Warlock Xander Harris; Witch Buffy Summers_

Amy didn't need to look at the rest. This was the one she wanted. One of her favorite moments in High School had been when she'd worked with Willow to cast that spell for Buffy's birthday. Because it had meant doing magic with Willow - who she'd still been crushing on so hard, at the time.

Of course, the whole thing was ruined a few days later by being nearly burned at the stake and getting stuck as a rat for three years, but still.

 _Besides, now I know that Willow is gay._ Amy would be lying if she said, despite all her resentment of Willow, she still didn't wish things had gone down differently in High School. If she'd just known that Willow wasn't actually straight... And now...

She'd have the chance. And she'd get to stay a witch.

"I'm going to take this one." Amy said, gesturing to the 'Rise of the Coven' option.

"Alright then," the voice said. "Time to enter character customization. You have some points to spend, but you can't get rid of your locked traits."

"Locked traits?"

"Every character has three locked traits - one boon, one bane and one neutral trait. They're essential to your character and cannot be changed. But you can customize your stats, boons, traits, et cetera, beyond that, as you wish."

The campaign options in front of her vanished, to be replaced by a character sheet. A picture of her when she'd been in High School was off to one side, along with a number of stats - magical power, magical control, agility, luck, charisma. That sort of thing. Next to them were certain vital statistics – height, weight, eye color, and so on. Including sexual orientation. Which listed Amy's accurately as 'bisexual'. _Damn right._

And then there were her traits. Amy took a look at her 'locked' traits, wondering what was 'essential to her character'.

 **Locked Boon: Magical Legacy**

 _Coming from a long line of powerful witches, Amy gets a +3 Bonus to 'Magical Power' at character creation_.

"Well, that's cool." Amy knew full well that her family was a long line of witches. She knew for sure at least back to a great-grandmother, and probably more. Of course, like Catherine, they'd all been evil little fucks... but still. Power. That was always nice.

 **Locked Trait: Dark Temptations**

 _The dark legacy of Amy's ancestors gives Amy a +2 to all Dark Magic spells, but a -2 to all attempts to resist corruption and temptations in relation to Dark Magics and Dark Powers_

"That - that's not fair, at all!" Amy protested. "I can resist just fine, thank you very much!"

"And who was it that was using magic to get out of homework assignments?" The voice asked, and Amy swore she could almost 'hear' a raised eyebrow in its tone. "And who went to Rack time and again? Face it Amy, you're on the edge sometimes, when it comes to dark magic."

"You have _no_ idea what you're talking about," Amy muttered, but then moved on to look at her bane.

 **Locked Bane: Mommy Issues**

 _Being raised by Catherine Madison has given Amy significant baggage. Amy begins play with Hyper-aware Defensiveness, and has a greater likelihood of manifesting paranoia._

"Great. Called out by a video game." Amy didn't bother arguing her bane with the voice. Not only was it going to be pointless, it seemed, but it wasn't like Amy didn't know. Mommy dearest _had_ given her baggage.

Looking over her sheet, Amy decided where to spend her small allotment of character improvement points. She increased her dangerously low magical control score, and upped her charisma and agility by one point each. Then she bought off her 'unathletic' bane. Since she was improving herself for a re-do, might as well get rid of the little things that bothered her.

"Okay, so now what?" She asked the voice.

"Now you get to pick your party. You can pick three people to be your compatriots and allies. Later on, you'll be able to add people onto your party. You also will be allowed to customize your party members with a small pool of improvement points for them," the voice explained.

Before her were three slots, each one empty. She reached out and tapped one, and her 'screen' changed to zoom in on a whole selection of characters. She recognized a lot of people from Sunnydale High – Xander, Buffy, Jonathan, Cordelia, Oz, et cetera. And of course, Willow.

 _Well, she's the first pick._

As she waited for Willow's sheet to load, Amy had already decided that, if it was at all possible, she was going to change Willow's sheet so that the redhead knew she was gay in High School. Would save Amy a lot of time and energy.

And sure enough, when she got a look at Willow's sheet, she saw, among her other banes, ' **Compulsory Heterosexuality.** ' The name basically said it all.

Amy bought that off immediately, watching the bane vanish from Willow's sheet. _None of that now. Willow's gay, and she may as well be aware of it sooner._

Waiting to spend the rest of her points once she'd decided on her party, Amy looked at the roster of available characters. One of them caught her eye. **Tara Maclay.**

Briefly, Amy entertained the idea of adding the blonde Amy had met only briefly to her party. Since this campaign was supposed to be all about witches, having another witch in her party could only be a good thing, right?

But the idea was rejected as soon as she considered it. She wasn't going to risk Tara swooping in and stealing Willow. And what little she did know about the girl, largely inferred, was that Tara was kind of a magical stick in the mud. Amy could do without that, thank you very much.

But Amy did select a different blonde – Buffy Summers. Even if this campaign was going to be mostly about magic, some instinctive understanding of game logic – probably courtesy of the voice – suggested to her that it would be useful to have a Slayer on her team. The combat skill could afford her a certain amount of flexibility.

The third choice, though, was a lot harder. She looked over several characters, trying to decide what made them useful additions to the team. Xander was an obvious option, and his high luck stat meant he'd have a penchant for showing up in the right place at the right time. Cordelia offered social connections and money that could be exploited usefully. Oz had his insights and the option for her to make him into a werewolf from the start. Jonathon was another spell caster, and while his magical power was low, he had a high control score and high intelligence/research scores to go with it.

Amy considered those four and others. Idly, she wondered why Mr. Giles, Buffy's watcher and their librarian, wasn't an option.

After some time – Amy wasn't sure how much, since there wasn't a clock – she finally settled on picking Xander. She knew he would work with Buffy and Willow. She knew him. He was a safe choice for now.

With her points, Amy decided to focus on improving the character's strengths and rounding them out, rather than removing more of their banes. They all had some, locked and unlocked, ranging from Xander's ' **Sometimes I Shouldn't Say Words'** to Buffy's ' **I Just Want To Be Normal** '. But buying off a bane was expensive, and she'd already bought off one of Willow's. Maybe she could buy them off later.

So with her points, she increased Xander's self-confidence a little bit, improved his already high luck further, and gave him a point of perception. For shits and giggles (and for no point cost) she changed Xander's sexual orientation from 'heterosexual' to 'bisexual'.

For Buffy, Amy upped her endurance score and also bought her the ' **Magical Resistance'** boon, that gave her, as the name suggested, a bonus to resisting hostile magic. Together those increases should make it so Buffy could take more punishment.

When it came to Willow, Amy was somewhat hampered by Willow's locked trait: **Untapped Potential.** It meant that Willow couldn't start with any points in magical stats or boons at all, but that there would be a 50% discount when she increased Willow's magical skills with points earned through play.

 _Would explain how Willow always was able to do things faster and better than everyone else with less training. She has a built in cheat._ Okay, so it wasn't a cheat, but close enough.

Still, after some consideration, Amy spent the last of the points upping Willow's self-confidence and wisdom scores.

"Do you wish to confirm these characters and begin play?" The voice asked, sounding just a little bored. "Please say yes, because it's getting close to closing time and I'd like to go home. I can't stay here, after all."

"Yes, fine, I'm ready to start." Amy said after a moment.

For a split second, Amy lost all sense of consciousness… and then….

The game began.


	2. Companion Quests

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Or even Amy Madison, more's the pity.

 **Author's Note:** Don't expect the story to move all that much forward with each chapter. We're looking at (likely) chapters of two to three thousand words that get caught up in game mechanics as much as story in most cases. And I'll be throwing them together quickly, without a lot of planning. Again, crack fic, not to be taken seriously. Keep your expectations low. :P

At the end of each chapter, I'm going to include a codex entry, that will outline the character sheet of a character, as of that chapter, define a few already mentioned traits, or loosely outline the still being created 'rules' of the game. This time, of course, we'll be getting a peak at Amy's sheet.

Sunnydale: Rise of the Coven

By Alkeni

Chapter 2: Companion Quests

"I'll absolutely miss the intellectual thrill of spelling words out with my arms," Amy told Cordelia, smirking as the cheerleading captain rolled her eyes and moved off with a huff.

Amy drew up short suddenly, as her awareness spread and changed. She stopped moving, standing in the middle of the hall, her vision suddenly filled with... a loading bar?

"Game. Set. Start!" A voice shouted in her ear, and then suddenly, Amy was fully caught up.

 _Game. New campaign. Right._

Amy looked around and realized that the whole world around her was still, as if she'd pressed a pause button.

"I can do that? Cool? How?" Amy could only imagine all the ways a pause button would be useful.

"Inside your left pocket," the voice told her, and Amy reached in, taking out what kind of looked like a sleek, futuristic cell phone. Maybe? But somehow she knew what it was - her contoller. Her way of pausing the game, checking the codex, looking at her stats and those of her party. And where she'd get quest updates.

"Now, I'm off home. My job is done. You can find answers to all your questions in there." The voice said, and then Amy heard disembodied footsteps walking away from her, growing more 'distant' sounding with each passing second.

 _Okay, so what the fuck even is that thing?_ Shaking her head, Amy looked at the controller, at the menu. There were a number of options, but after a moment, she clicked on the top one. **The Story So Far.**

Her head filled with images, half-completed words and ideas, flooding before her eyes and behind them, watching a whole movie on instant speed.

The broad strokes of it familiar - Catherine Madison had stolen her body, tried to live out her cheerleading fantasies, hexed other girls trying out. Buffy had saved her life, and with the help of the Libririan-slash-Watcher Mr. Giles, undone all her mom's spells, restoring her to her own

body.

 _I can't even avoid that in a game where I'm the main character._ Amy let out a long sigh. But there were differences. Amy knew that unlike what happened in the 'base game', Amy hadn't stopped the rising of some uber-powerful vampire called 'The Master' right after moving to Sunnydale. She'd fought a powerful vampire, yeah, but his name was Luke, and there was no more powerful vamp behind him. Buffy knew she was on a Hellmouth, but she knew of no 'big bad'.

Jesse, longtime friend of Willow and Xander was still dead. Amy had never known the guy well, and still had no feelings about it one way or the other. She knew that Willow was gay, and knew that Xander (and Jesse) had known since shortly after the beginning of sophomore year (right after her mother had stolen her body) and she knew, that Willow had recently confided that fact in a totally accepting Buffy... but Amy also knew that technically, _she_ didn't know.

Shaking her head a little at the sudden information overload, Amy looked down at the controller in her hand and picked the next item on the menu. **Quests.** It changed to a new menu, showing her that she had four quests currently ongoing. She checked each one in turn:

 **Main Quest: The Spellbook**

 _Catherine Madison's Spellbook is much hardier than the witch itself. A powerful source of magic, it has followed you to your father's house._

 _*Go Home and Unpack_

 _*Find Your Mother's Spellbook_

 _*Unlock Your Magical Power_

 **Companion Quest: Buffy Summers**

 _There has to be a reason why Buffy knew magic was involved and felt compelled to get involved._

 _*Get Buffy to tell you that she is the Slayer._

 **Companion Quest: Willow Rosenberg**

 _You haven't actually spoken to Willow since the beginning of sophomore year. Catch up with her._

 _*Catch up with Willow._

 _*Get Willow to Tell You She's Gay_

 **Companion Quest: Xander Harris**.

 _You don't know Xander Harris all that well - you know him mostly as Willow's "slacker" friend. But you suspect his home life is far from ideal._

 _*Become Casual Friends with Xander_

After Amy read all the quests, she mentally added another bullet point to the Willow Rosenberg one: 'Kiss Willow Rosenberg'. Somehow, returning to High School, even to this point before she'd actually realized she was crushing on Willow, had pushed her crush on Willow into its fullest form, and just thinking about the redhead made her feel almost blissfully happy, a stupid smile spreading across her face.

She should be disgusted at just how warm and fuzzy she was feeling, but she couldn't help it. It was her first crush all over again, and she couldn't help but love it.

 _And this time I'm going to do it right._ The obvious solution to getting Willow to tell her she was gay was to tell Willow that she was bi, And then to woo Willow, subtly and carefully, and then tell Willow how she felt about her.

It was fullproof. Amy just hoped she'd have the patience for it and that she could stop herself from just grabbing the object of her affections and kissing the daylights out of her.

 _Because that sounds really appealing right about now._ But not just kissing Willow - doing anything with Willow sounded really appealing. Cuddling with her - even just fucking **holding hands** sounded amazing.

 _Goddess, I forgot how bad I'd had it for her, once I realized just what was going on._

Amy closed her eyes and took a breath. _Focus. Focus._ Amy looked at the device again. There were a few other options she skipped over – **Character Sheet, Companion Sheets, Codex,** and finally saw the ' **unpause** ' button. Amy caught up with Buffy so she wasn't impeding hallway traffic anymore and then pressed the button, starting up the hustle and bustle of high school all over again.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Amy said from memory, looking over at Buffy. "I forgot that you actually _wanted_ to get on the squad." She really couldn't get why anyone would _want_ to be a cheerleader, but there you had it.

Buffy shrugged, "It's okay. I think Cheerleading might be a little more hairy these days than I want to deal with, you know?"

Amy nodded, "I do, I do." She said softly. They passed the trophy case, and passed the one of Catherine Madison – Catherine the Great. Amy had always wondered about the trophy, wondered about her mom.

"Just seeing it…" Amy said softly, looking away. She made a mental note to steal the trophy and melt it down, just in case. _This is a video game, after all, and not the same as before. Hell, with magic as the main theme, it seems even more likely._ Amy was not letting the game throw Catherine Madison at her as an enemy.

"Still no sign of her?" Buffy asked. Amy shook her head.

"Nothing. And good fucking riddance," she said with more heat than she meant to. Buffy gave her a slightly surprised look, but there was no reproach in her gaze. "Sorry. I just-"

Buffy shook her head, "No, no. If there's anyone in the world who has the right to say that about someone, you about your mom… definitely one of them."

Amy nodded, letting out a long sigh. After a moment, she got an idea. "Hey, when's your next free period?"

"Uhm… 5th period," Buffy answered, thrown by the sudden change in topic.

"Could you meet me in room 22B, then?" Amy asked. "I know it's empty that period, and there's something I want to talk to you about."

Buffy blinked, but nodded. "Yeah, sure, see you then." She looked at the room they were about to pass. "And there's my class. See you later."

Amy nodded and watched Buffy split off and head into the classroom. Progress on one Companion Quest. Next up… Willow. Amy looked at her quests again and after a moment, knew that Willow would have a free period next period, and knowing Willow, she'd spend it in the library. Amy didn't have any free periods until 7th, but skipping class was not a concern for her, right now. Class was kind of… not important?

Sure enough, come 3rd period, there was Willow, sitting down at the table in the middle of the room and pulling books out of her backpack.

Amy's mouth suddenly felt dry, butterflies moving around in her stomach, but Amy closed her eyes and kept her mind on the prize, taking a deep breath, then walked over to the table and pulled out a chair, sitting down next to Willow.

"Amy! Hi." Willow said, offering her a small smile that had Amy's heart aching. "I was – I was kind of wanting to talk to you, actually." Willow went on. "You know – I mean… how are you doing, given… everything?"

"I'm mostly taking it one day at a time," Amy admitted. "But… I'm doing… I'm doing okay. Dad's helping a lot. I'm trying to catch up on everything I missed. I've been… gone, for months and…" Amy shook her head. "And almost nobody knows."

"I can't even imagine…" Willow trailed off, "Like… it has to feel really strange? Coming back to your life in progress and all?"

"Really strange." Amy agreed. "At least having my body again didn't take any getting used to." Amy shifted in her chair a little. "Hanging out with you was actually one of the things I missed the most, to be honest." Amy offered Willow a small smile of her own.

Willow's smile returned to her face for a moment. "I missed hanging with you too… I always wondered why we drifted apart this year, apart from only having the one class… I guess that wasn't you, was it?"

"Nope," Amy nodded. In hindsight, having read her mom's journals the first time through, Amy knew her mom had guessed how she felt about Willow. And refusing to not be anything but a horrible person through and through, Catherine Madison had been a Grade A homophobe about it, at least in her own private thoughts. Might have been yet another reason for the body-switch, too.

"I wanted to catch up with you," Amy said, honestly. She opened her mouth to go on, and her throat was dry all over again. She swallowed slowly, forcing herself to speak.

"There's something else, too," Amy started. _Goddamnit Amy! Appearances aside, you're not_

 _actually sixteen anymore! Spit it out!_ "I wanted to tell you at… you know, the beginning of the year. I was working up the courage to – and then… well, I couldn't. It's just… you're my best friend, Willow… and I thought… I wanted you to know... and I want to tell you know, before I chicken out and -" Amy cursed her own nervousness. She _knew_ Willow was gay. She knew Willow knew she was gay. Why was she – why was she so fucking worried.

 _Spit it out, Amy!_

"I'mbisexual." Amy said quickly, her voice low, before she could stop herself.

Willow's eyes went wide for a moment, then she smiled. "Really? That's - That's so cool!" Willow leaned in a little towards Amy, her lips near Amy's ear. "I'm gay." She murmured excitedly. She pulled back, still speaking quietly. "I was afraid I was the only person in Sunnydale High who wasn't - who wasn't straight. But you - you're - this is so cool!" Willow was babbling, almost bouncing around in her chair, looking for all the world like she'd just had a few shots of espresso.

"Wait - you're - oh god, that's -" Amy couldn't stop herself from hugging Willow, though she managed to pull back after a moment. She hadn't expected Willow to just... say it. And yet, this _was_ a video game. People in the real world and characters in video games... video games compressed time scales sometimes when it came to this sort of thing, and Amy was more than happy to accept that as part of her reality.

"God, there's so much I want to talk about with you. I mean - I mean, Xander and Buffy know, but... I mean, I haven't even told my parents. Does - does your dad know? Are you going to tell him? Have you told anyone else? And - I wish you had been able to say something at the beginning of the year, maybe I'd have realized a little sooner! How did you know?" Willow's babbling continued, and Amy couldn't help but smile at her her antics. Willow was so adorable when she got like this...

"There is a lot to talk about, you're right." Amy agreed. "Maybe we could hang out after school, like we used to? And this time you could actually come over to my house?" Amy looked around. "I mean... anyone could walk into the library, and... I'm not sure I'm ready for the whole school to-"

"Oh- right!" Willow flushed. "I completely forgot where we were..." She smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, that makes sense. Why don't I walk home with you? Mom and dad are out of town again. We could do studying together for a bit and then talk. Maybe even order a pizza, like we used to?"

"We can even bake some brownies too," Amy agreed, smiling right back, feeling happier than she remembered feeling in a long time.

 **Codex: Amy Madison's Character Sheet**

 _Strength:_ 2, _Agility:_ 3 _Endurance:_ 4 _Perception:_ 3 _Luck:_ 2 _Charisma:_ 5 _Intelligence:_ 5 _Magical Power:_ 8 _Magical Control:_ 5 _Willpower:_ 4

 _Boons:_ Magical Legacy (Locked); Ambition

 _Traits:_ Dark Temptations (Locked); Aggressive Magic (Style Trait)

 _Banes:_ Mommy Issues (Locked)

 _Relationships:_ Father (Daniel Christian) +50; Buffy Summers: +10; Willow Rosenberg: +35; Xander Harris: +10; Cordelia Chase: -10; Rupert Giles: +5

 _Defects, Flaws and Derangements:_ Hyper-Aware Defensiveness (Granted by 'Mommy Issues')

 _Unspent Character Points_ : 3


	3. The Slayer and the Spellbook

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Thanks to Maria for beta-reading,

 **Active Quest Log** : Main: The Spellbook, Companion: Willow Rosenberg, Companion: Buffy Summers, Companion: Xander Harris

 **Relationship Values:** Father (Daniel Christian) +50; Buffy Summers: +10; Willow Rosenberg: +35; Xander Harris: +10; Cordelia Chase: -10; Rupert Giles: +5

Sunnydale: Rise of the Coven

By Alkeni

Chapter 3: The Slayer and the Spellbook

Amy reached Room 22B before Buffy did - she was skipping a class to make this meeting, but she wasn't that concerned about her classes. She didn't plan on getting kicked out for failure to attend or at least pass, and she wasn't planning on ignoring her classwork completely...

But given everything, it wasn't as if her classwork mattered that much to her.

A few moments later, Buffy came into the classroom, setting her books down on one of the desks rather than carrying them around.

"What did you want to talk about?" Buffy asked, clearly more curious than anything else. Amy looked the Slayer over for a minute, deciding on the best way to get this done - to get Buffy to let her in on all the Slayer business.

"I know you're the Slayer," Amy said after a moment.

Buffy blinked, opening her mouth to protest or deny or say something, but Amy barrelled forward.

"Mom - Catherine - she left behind a lot of journals and diaries. I was looking through the most recent one last night, trying to..." Amy bit her lip a moment, then let out a long sigh. "Trying to figure out what she had my body do these last few months, so I wouldn't be surprised by anything I came back to. She talked about you, that she was pretty sure you were the Slayer. That your arrival was connected to a noticeable drop in the vampire population, more than just normal..." Amy laughed, "And I still almost can't believe vampires are real too."

"But you do think so?" Buffy asked carefully.

"It's not that much of a leap to go from 'magic is real' to 'vampires are real'," Amy pointed out, and Buffy nodded in agreement after a moment.

"I guess not," the Slayer said after a few more silent seconds. "So..."

"I want to help." Amy declared.

"Help?"

"The same way Willow, and Xander and Mr. Giles are helping you." Amy explained. "I mean, you're the Slayer, which means you're... like the chosen one or whatever - Catherine was vague on the details-"

"I'm the one chosen to be the only one with the strength and skill to face the vampires and the forces of darkness, blah, blah, blah," Buffy cut in. "It's not as fun as it sounds."

"I don't think it's _fun_ , Buffy. Getting my body stolen wasn't _fun_ , but it opened my eyes to how scary this town is." Amy inhaled sharply. "Vampires are the reason we have so many 'accidental' deaths in Sunnydale, aren't they?"

Buffy nodded after a moment. "Yeah, most of them. Mr. Giles says that Sunnydale is on something called a Hellmouth - some sort of nexus of badness or whatever. Vampires, demons... everything that you didn't think existed... monsters... witches..." Buffy added, looking at Amy. The slayer took a breath. "Are you sure about this?"

"Did you ask Willow and Xander the same thing?"

"Basically, yeah." Buffy nodded. "This isn't a game... I risk my life every night, and if you're even _close_ to this, you could die." The way she said that left Amy sure she'd lost a friend or more to Slaying, even already now. _I probably won't unlock that story until I'm a level 4 friend, at least..._ Amy resisted the urge to smile at her little joke, lest Buffy misunderstand where Amy was finding humor.

"I'm at risk of dying even if I don't help you, in this town. My _Dad_ could die." Amy shook her head. "Catherine made me a victim... I..." She affected a tone as if she was forcing herself to be steely and stubborn. "I won't be a victim again. I won't."

Buffy took a step towards her and held out a hand. "Alright. Welcome to the team." Amy shook her hand. _Step one done._

Flashing before her eyes, Amy saw the words "+3 Relationship with Buffy Summers", and the phone-game control device in her pocket vibrated a little against her leg. She ignored it for the moment.

"I'll let Willow and Xander know you know. Giles... he'll be a bit of a stick in the mud about it, I think. He's stuffy about all this." Buffy added that last bit with a small smile.

"He's british. Isn't the same thing?"

Meeting Willow after school was done and walking to her house- was itself a fun experience. Leaving her crush aside, just being able to walk and talk with her childhood friend was nice. All the hostility and acrimony was gone. Willow didn't know all that had happened between them last time around, and Amy couldn't bring herself to retain any of her old resentments against this Willow - the innocent, shy, wide-eyed young woman she'd first fell for. This Willow had done nothing for Amy to resent.

 _And she won't._ Amy was going to make sure of that this time.

"So, I figured we could start with prepping for the history test. I mean, I know you're not in the same period, but the test is on the same day-" Willow said, as she dropped her bookbag next to the kitchen table.

"The same day two weeks from now." Amy pointed out with a small laugh. Then she smiled. "Nice to know you haven't changed."

"There's nothing wrong with being prepared for a test," Willow's tone affected protest, but since Amy hadn't really gone at her, the protest wasn't really needed. "Besides, you've got months of class to catch up on." Willow sat down and opened her history textbook.

"Catherine _did_ make me do well enough on my homework that she wouldn't get kicked out of extracurriculars... but yeah. I did miss all the class discussions and lectures and stuff, so..." Amy nodded. "Okay." she sat down at the kitchen table across from Willow and pulled out her own history textbook.

"So the test is supposed to cover Chapters 17 to 24..." Willow started.

Five hours, several slices of pizza and some fresh out of the oven Brownies later, Willow and Amy were sitting on the floor in front of the couch, watching some movie. It had been Willow's pick, and Amy was only half paying attention. Willow and her were right next to each other, and the redhead's closeness was distracting. Amy had given up mocking herself at how bad she had it. She didn't remember the crushing on Willow being this hard last time, this severe, but Amy didn't care. She knew how she felt about the redhead. The hardest part was still resisting the urge to just kiss WIllow senseless now.

 _Soon though, goddess damnit._

So they sat, watching the movie, Willow actually paying attention to the screen, and Amy paying attention to Willow, until finally the credits rolled.

"It's getting late." Amy said after a moment. "I should... I should probably get home." She'd called home and left a message that she was at WIllow's and her dad had even called to check that, but it was nearly nine now. Walking home in Sunnydale in the dark, especially given what she 'knew'...

"Probably." Willow agreed, sounding reluctant. The she smiled. "I'm... I'm really glad we got to do this. I missed this, hanging out with you like this. Xander just doesn't like these movies, and he's always doing commentary when we watch something. Nice to have a change of pace again."

"We could do this again sometime?" Amy offered, looking at Willow, affecting a careful, hesitant tone.

"Of course!" Willow agreed brightly. "This was fun." Taking Amy by surprise, Willow gave her a quick hug, Amy barely managing to return the gesture before the redhead pulled back. "Maybe this weekend?"

"I'd love that." Amy agreed, smiling. "Thank you."

"You don't need to thank me. We're friends. We'll get back to the way things used to be in no time."

 _+10 Relationship with Willow._

And now, here she was.

Amy finally reached the last box in her bedroom, knowing that at the bottom of it, she'd mysteriously find the leatherbound spellbook. It had just appeared in her luggage when she'd moved, and she'd tried to avoid it for a long time - she'd actually tried burning it once, to no avail. At the time, she'd been terrified by the thing, and its resilience.

Now, of course, Amy understood that this spellbook was bound to her family. It hadn't just been her mother's, but her grandmother, and great grandmother, and possibly even further back, had used it. Her maternal line was full of powerful and usually quite dark, witches. This spellbook would have dark spells aplenty. She knew she was going to need to find other sources for other, lighter spells, but these would do for now. Certainly, the ability to conjure fire would make vampires easy prey, and if this campaign was going to focus on magic, on witches fighting for control... well than Amy wanted to be prepared to fight magical battles.

Setting her the clothes and assorted other things in the box aside, Amy's fingers brushed against the spine of the spellbook and she stiffened. This time, she could feel, really _feel_ the power of the book, running up her arm, into her. She could feel the familiar flood of magic and Amy closed her eyes for a moment, opening them to have her vision so much clearer.

If she looked in a mirror, she knew she'd find her eyes solid black orbs, but Amy didn't care. The feeling of the magic rushing through her again...

 _Goddess... does everything feel so much..._ _ **More**_ _now?_ After what felt like an age, but was just seconds, Amy came back down from her sudden high, her vision returning to normal, and the magic settling into her. She could feel her power awakening. Her whole body hummed and buzzed, her power so much more now than it had been when she started.

 _I guess the game wants things to move ahead quickly._ That was something Amy could get behind.

Opening the spellbook and putting it across her lap, Amy pulled out the game control device and looked at her quest log, wondering what was next.

 **Main Quest: The Spellbook** \- **Completed**

 **Main Quest: Coming To Power**

 _You have unlocked your power, and now it is time to ensure you harness it._

 _*Learn Ten Spells_

 _*Reveal your magic to the rest of your party_

"Ten spells? May as well get to work."

* * *

 **Codex: Buffy Summers**

Strength: 7, Agility: 7 Endurance: 5 Perception: 6 Luck: 1 Charisma: 5 Intelligence: 4 Willpower: 5

Boons: The Slayer (Locked), Magical Resistance,

Traits: She Who Hangs Out In Cemetaries (Locked), Former Cheerleader

Banes: I Just Want To Be Normal (Locked);

Relationships: Mother (Joyce Summers) +60; Willow Rosenberg +40, Xander Harris: +45, Rupert Giles: +15, Cordelia Chase: -20, Angel +8, Amy Madison +13,

Defects, Flaws and Derangements: None

Unspent Character Points : 2


End file.
